In the Russian far east, military journalist Gregory Pasko remains jailed since last November, charged with treason. His articles - about the Russian navy dumping nuclear waste in the Sea of Japan - for the official newspaper of the navy's Far East Fleet and for Japanese mass media are alleged to constitute passing state secrets, despite the public nature of all his source documents and the tight rein of his navy editor.

The Grigory Pasko Defense Committee asks supporters to take every opportunity to publicize Pasko's case and bring their concerns in the form of pickets and demonstrations whenever Russian officials visit their community. Supporters are also asked to contact their own government representatives and demand that they make official inquiries about the Pasko case to Russian officials. United States military officials should also be questioned about their participation in joint maneuvers with the Russian navy.

For more information and to receive email updates as they become available, contact the Socio-Ecological Union via email at press@cci.glasnet.ru or via post at SEU, ul.Vavilova 41 office 3, Moscow 117312, Russia. SEU will appreciate receiving copies of any correspondence with officials regarding Grigory Pasko.

Pasko's prosecution is an eerie echo of the case of Alexander Nikitin in northwest Russia. The Russian Supreme Court has referred the case of Nikitin back for trial in the St. Petersburg City Court, and informed the nuclear navy veteran and whistleblowing journalist that the trial will take place between September 15 and the end of the year. Nikitin's research into public sources and authorship of a report on Baltic Sea pollution from the Russian nuclear navy have earned him charges of espionage and treason. The case has dragged on for over two years, including ten months in prison and a succession of indictments, including retroactive violations of secret new laws. Nikitin is currently free from custody.

Jurors, however, will have to pass security clearance by the FSB, successor to the KGB and lead agency in the prosecution of Nikitin. In such an environment of malicious prosecution and prosecutor's hand-picked juries, supporters see sustained international pressure on Russian political and legal authorities as the only route to justice. Calls and letters to the Russian Embassy in your own country are encouraged at this time.

Nikitin's case was recently subject of a New York Times editorial, and Rep. Davis Skaggs (D-CO) has been championing the whistleblower.

From July 19 through August 3, about 150 anti-nuclear activists from seven countries established a protest camp a short distance from the Kola nuclear power plant, on Russia's far north-west Kola Peninsula. Activists gathered to oppose government plans to replace the admittedly dangerous and aging reactor not with appropriate wind and other renewable resources, but a new reactor that will burn mixed-oxide (MOX) plutonium-uranium fuel.

While many local residents voiced support, the camp was subject to sporadic harassment from authorities. Foreign participants were fined for visa violations while Kola security guards, local police and health officials kept constant watch over activities. About 50 activists demonstrated in Apatity on July 28, while teams of activists leafletted in other population centers, including the nuclear workers' town of Polyarye Zory. A newspaper in Apatity published an article under the headline "Terrorists beneath the walls of the Kola Nuclear Power Plant."

Throughout the period of the camp, the nuclear plant was heavily secured. But using a diversion tactic, environmentalists on July 29 managed to climb onto the roof of the plant's administration building, where they unfurled a 50-meter banner that read ``Nuclear Plant is Silent Death.'' Three of the protesters were arrested.